Morgan star is poached by bank

By James Moore

12:01AM BST 22 May 2004

Credit Suisse First Boston took on its third head of UK investment banking in a year yesterday when it poached Piers de Montfort from rival Morgan Stanley.

Philip Remnant, the current incumbent who last year returned from a two-year stint as head of the Takeover Panel, will move to a senior client coverage role. He will also join the investment banking division's executive board.

Before Mr Remnant's return, the post was held by Richard Gillingwater, who is now with the Civil Service.

Mr de Montfort's departure from Morgan Stanley, where he had worked for nearly 17 years, followed a recent reshuffle.

It saw Simon Robey, co-chairman of global mergers & acquisitions, become head of all Morgan Stanley's UK operations, including investment banking. Mr de Montfort moved to a senior, client-facing role.

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His move comes as Credit Suisse seeks to restore its position in the UK M&A tables. Executives have publicly voiced their unhappiness at the bank's current position. This year Dealogic has CSFB at 30th in UK M&A, having been involved in just six announced deals, while Morgan Stanley is fifth.

People with knowledge of the situation say the bank will be hoping Mr de Montfort will play a part in returning the bank to the top 10. He has worked on more than 100 deals.

Notable transactions include the defence of Marks & Spencer following an approach from retail entrepreneur Philip Green and subsequent transactions including the sale and lease back and securitisation of the company's property portfolio.

He also represented engineer Siebe over the merger with BTR, which created Invensys, and was involved in a number of subsequent restructuring transactions for the troubled company. Alliance & Leicester is another high-profile client.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr de Montfort spent five years with Morgan Grenfell, which included working as a junior on the controversial takeover of Distillers by Guinness.

With confidence returning, investment banks have been hiring recently and there have been a number of high-profile transfers.

Morgan Stanley has been particularly active and recently hired 11 brokers to help it launch an assault on the corporate broking market, where it has been weak.

In a memo sent to staff yesterday CSFB said Mr de Montfort would work closely with Charles Kirwan-Taylor, head of UK corporate broking.